Scanning slides.

[MikeG.]

Hi,

I have many hundreds, probably thousands, of slides which are sitting in boxes (presumably deteriorating), which I would love to scan and thus have digitally. I have a scanner, but it isn't designed for slides.

Has anyone any recommendations for either a decent slide scanner (bearing in mind the numbers, I don't want to be doing one at a time!)........or, has anyone made a successful home-made back-light thingy that would enable slides to be scanned on an orthodox scanner?

Thanks

Mike

 

[Smudger]

I used to have a slide attachment which fitted onto the standard lens on my SLR (it was a Nikkormat, which tells you how long ago it was) which you then photographed against a neutral light source. I've not seen one for years, but if you could rig something up, possibly with extension tubes, you might be able to do it that way.

 

[superunknown]

I have a scanner that does 3 at a time and they come out very well. I think its HP scanjet. I did a few hundred at the time.

If I do any more I will get a dedicated slide scanner. Something like this....


http://www.play.com/Electronics/Ele...Slide-And-Negative-Photo-Scanner/Product.html

 

[TonyW]

If you want to have a go at making something yourself have a look at these links
http://www.sci.fi/~animato/scanning/scanning2.html
http://www.abstractconcreteworks.com/es ... ghter.html

Both methods use mirrors above your flatbed scanner.

Cheers
Tony

 

[Woody Alan]

It's hard to tell if this is the same one that Nola is referring to
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Veho-VFS-001me- ... KA5CKXSD4B

but the reviews on Amazon are indifferent. However this Scanner with attachment
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000 ... rd_i=typ01
seems to be very favourably recieved. People have said that it takes 12-15 mins to scan 3-4 negs/slides. I have a feeling this is common but don't know how long a dedicated slide scanner takes. I will be interested to know of your choice and how you get on as I have been looking for the same thing but couldn't get enough info to make my mind up, but didn't really want another A4 scanner littering up the place.

Cheers Alan

 

[RobertMP]

My wife wanted to scan a lot of old pictures from negatives so I bought her a scanner for xmas.

I looked at the little ones like the one pictured above but the reviews were universally awful stating blurred pictures and fiddly to use. So I looked a bit further and ended up buying an Epson V300 photo from ebuyer for £59 delivered. link - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152149

We were trying it out yesterday and I have to say I'm quite impressed with the results especially considering the cost of the unit and the age and storage method of the negatives :lol:

It is a normal A4 scanner but has a lay on tray for negatives or slides. The tray is long enough for 6 frames of negatives to be done at once. The normal white backing for the lid is removable to reveal the light source that shines through the negs during scanning.
The software detects what is being scanned and automatically produces a positive image and saves them sequentially numbered with your own prefix. I've not timed it but 6 negative frames from 'go' to saved must take about 6 to 8 minutes though it could be less as things seem longer when you are waiting

So in short I'd recommend it

 

[RogerM]

Hi,

I have many hundreds, probably thousands, of slides which are sitting in boxes (presumably deteriorating), which I would love to scan and thus have digitally. I have a scanner, but it isn't designed for slides.

Has anyone any recommendations for either a decent slide scanner (bearing in mind the numbers, I don't want to be doing one at a time!)........or, has anyone made a successful home-made back-light thingy that would enable slides to be scanned on an orthodox scanner?

Thanks

Mike

Mike - Snap!! We have a couple of thousand slides going back to the early 1970's, and my mother has several hundred going back to the early 1950's. After loads of research (by me), SWMBO bought me an Epson V500 for Xmas, and I'm blown away by the quality of the results. Unfortunately it also highlights the deterioration in the slides over the years, but some of that can be sorted in Photoshop. The V500 is the cheapest model to have DIGITAL ICE technology which digitally removes dust and marks on the slides. Not an excuse to scan dirty slides, but the scanner will pick up even the smallest pices of dust, and the software removes these.

The V500 scans up to 4 slides at a time, or 12 negatives in strip form. For general views that I am unlikely to want to crop, I use 1200 dpi. This takes about 3 mins to scan a block of 4 slides, but about 7 mins if I want to use Digital ICE. If I think I will want to print or crop the image, I scan at 2400 dpi, and with grain reduction and digital ICE it takes about 12 mins per 4 slides. The sanner will go up to 6400 dpi but on screen I can't differentiate between this and 2400 dpi, and the quality of the original image is the main limiting factor. Sadly, if the slides are more than 20 years old, deterioration in the film will also be a limiter.

The V500 is available online for about £135. The cheaper ones don't have Digital ICE dust removal which is superb - I wouldn't be without it. The next model up is the V700 which will scan up to 12 slides at a time, but at over £350 is difficult to justify purely on quality grounds.

I would thoroughly recommend the V500. If you want to see some results, pm me with your email address and I'll send a few as attachments.

 

[wizer]

if they are valuable images to you, get a company to do it. Save yourself the time hassle and expense of something you'll never use again after you've scanned them all.

 

[MikeG.]

Tom,

they typically quote 17p per image. So, £170 per thousand slides.......over twice the cost of some of the slide scanners. This suggests to me that it is at least worth considering buying. But you may well end up being right!!!

Tony,

I tried the DIY versions, and the results were very poor............and took forever to set up. Thanks anyway!

Robert, Roger......thanks for those recommendations. I will look into them more closely.

Cheers

Mike

 

[wizer]

I guess it comes down to what sort of quality digital imaged you want to end up with